US Won’t Repeat China Trade ‘Mistake’ With India, Says Senior State Department Official
New Delhi: A senior US State department official on March 5 (Thursday) said Washington would not repeat what he described as past economic concessions that aided China’s rise and suggested that foreign students should not take up places in American universities if they are to later compete with US workers.
Speaking at the Raisina Dialogue in New Delhi, US deputy secretary of state Christopher Landau outlined the “America First” approach of President Donald Trump’s administration, which over the past year has adopted sharply protectionist trade policies and tightened immigration rules.
Soon after Trump took over as president for the second term last year, his administration announced sweeping tariffs on imports on nearly all major trading partners.
Landau’s remarks come amid a turbulent year in bilateral ties marked by Trump’s 25% Russia-oil penalty, stacked atop a 25% reciprocal tariffs on Indian goods. India and US have reached an interim deal slashing duties to around 19%, but the text is yet to be made public.
The senior US official said the US was keen to deepen ties with India but stressed that cooperation would be framed by reciprocity and US national interests.
“We’re not going to make the same mistakes with India that we made with China 20 years ago in terms of saying, ‘We’re going to let you develop all these markets,’ and then the next thing we know, you’re beating us in commercial things,” Landau said, adding that any economic engagement would have to be “fair to our people”.
Answering a question on how people-to-people ties can be fostered, Landau also suggested that international students should not occupy places in American universities if they are to end up competing with US citizens for employment. Indians are the largest cohort of international students in the US.
While saying he would “love a world in which the brightest students are able to come from all over the world,” he said the US needed to assess what benefits such migration brought to American society.
“I don’t think we want to be taking up slots in our own educational institutions with people who will just compete with Americans for jobs,” he said, adding that immigration policies should ultimately promote the welfare of US citizens.
Trump’s H1B overhaul has left thousands of Indian IT workers in limbo, with visa stamping delays trapping many in India. India’s government has voiced quiet concerns but issued no formal protests, wary of broader ties.
More broadly, Landau said the administration’s foreign policy approach was centred on advancing US interests rather than what he described as a previous tendency to “lecture people about values” without securing concrete results.
Responding to a question about India’s energy needs amid instability in West Asia, Landau said Washington hoped India would consider alternative suppliers.
“I hope you are thinking of alternate sources, and I can’t think of a better alternate source than the United States of America,” he said, describing the US as an “energy rich country” capable of supporting India’s long term and short term requirements.
With supplies through the Strait of Hormuz squeezed by the ongoing war, India is returning to buying more Russian crude that it had cut down under pressure from Trump tariffs.
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